Life Before You
by CasMerlinDracoMagic
Summary: Harry Potter has a sister and both have there own demons. The Dursley's have done their damage and now The Order have two children to care for, but will the children really be protected or will someone betray them again? *Spoilers for all 7 books/Movies* Warning: ChildAbuse, Violence, Dumbledore!Bashing
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The house of number four Privet Drive was quiet, almost too quiet. There lived an ordinary family with ordinary mundane lives. At least that's what the family would like you to believe. This family had skeletons in their closet and two children hidden in their walls.

Petunia Dursley always hated her sister, loathed her attention and the bloody magical world. When she met Vernon she thought she'd be rid of her good for nothing sibling forever and raise a family as quietly and as normal as possible. Dudley Dursley was born soon after the wedding and for a little over two years life was amazing. Until one night, when the ordinary routine of her evening was interrupted and turned into her worst nightmare.

After a single knock at the door she found a toddler and a baby no older that six months on her front porch. A note tucked with the boy's blanket told her they were her nephew Harry, a two year old with an ugly looking lightning scar, though then it looked like a fresh cut, on his pale forehead and her niece, Leahynna, no doubt her freak of a sister named her. The baby looked normal enough except for the fact she was shaking possibly from the cold of the fall air in Surrey.

The note said something about her sister's untimely death along with that man, the children's father, Potter and that she was the only living relative fit to take them, but most importantly they had to stay because of some protection spell or blood thing; something to that level of freaky.

Petunia did not grieve, she did not cry and she didn't even care to find more information about what happened to her sister; instead she tried to think of some way to make the two children left in her care disappear. She couldn't stand to have either of the freaks in her home much less near her darling Duddykins and that is why that night neither child could be heard from a cupboard under the stairs where they lay that night.

* * *

No light was shining from the tiny slivers left between the bottom of the cupboard door and the carpeted floor beneath Leah's feet. She had her knees against her chest and her head lay limply upon the top the small ball she was making of herself. Harry was asleep upstairs in his room, the small one down from Dudley's larger one, which left her to ponder the silence alone.

When Harry had been moved upstairs around five years old Leah had felt a new sense of loneliness; the Dursley's had decided the two couldn't stay in the same room together anymore to discuss and plan freakiness against their relatives. The first few days had been the worst. She missed his hand holding hers, his hug telling her that everything would be fine despite the hate spewing from either relatives mouths at all times and she missed the fact that someone was in the cupboard with her when the dark came. Now she is alone in the cupboard most of the time since Harry was told to stay in his room unless he was doing chores or they were allowed out back.

She thought she was about nine years old now since Harry was almost eleven like Dudley but she was never sure of when her birthday was, her Aunt and Uncle had never wanted to tell her. The only reason they knew Harry's birthday is because it was almost a week after Dudley's and somehow he remembered from a long time ago. Now every July 31st, they celebrate in a small way in the cupboard.

Right now, she assumed it was fairly early in the morning since Harry was _still_ sleeping and hadn't woken up to start breakfast and say good morning to her like he did every single morning so she knew he was alright.

She soon realized that Harry had indeed overslept because she could hear Uncle Vernon's feet pounding upstairs in his bedroom before she could heard Harry's light footsteps on the stairs. She desperately needed to wake Harry up before he was punished for not having the food cooking before their uncle made it out of his room.

**Harry. **

**Harry, wake up.**

He made a grunt up in his room. Leah tried again to talk to him through his mind.

**Harry, please. Uncle Vernon is already awake!**

This time he heard her and made a mad scramble to get downstairs, quickly stopping by the cupboard to thank her for the warning.

It was after Harry's move upstairs she found she could communicate to Harry using her head. Most of the time she didn't mean to say anything to him but she found that when she was scared it happened almost automatically. The first time had been when Aunt Petunia was yelling at her for something she didn't do but was blamed for thanks to her bigger cousin and she was sure she'd be beaten unconscious. Leah was panicking inside her own mind when she heard Harry talk back aloud trying to calm her. They were both confused but were relieved as well to know they could now talk without being in the same room even though Harry had to still say everything out loud.

Like clockwork the stove _clicked_ on and bacon started to simmer in a pan she couldn't see. More footsteps were heard coming down the stairs, one set briefly stopping and jumping on the stairs directly above Leah's head leaving a trail of new dust to float down onto her already dirty hair. Dudley yelled as he came down and kicked the cupboard door before going in and screaming at Harry to speed it up with his breakfast.

Soon the smell of food hit her like a dodgeball in a gym class she'd never been to. Her stomach mirrored Harry's with a loud rumble of displeasure from the lack of nourishment and the tease of the opportunity to satisfy it being so close.

"Boy, hurry up with the bacon!" The monstrous voice of their uncle boomed.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon." Harry's meek reply came soon after.

Breakfast was done soon with both males shoveling the piles of food cooked by Harry down their throats before rudely pushing away from the table. Leah could hear Dudley's maniacal laugh while pushing Harry into a wall to get to the television. Aunt Petunia came through the hallway, unlocked the cupboard's lock and left without saying anything; she knew she was to join Harry because this was what they did everyday.

So they started by doing the breakfast dishes and then broke off into their different chores. Harry had a lot of yard and house maintenance to do while Leah did most of the cleaning, which Aunt Petunia insisted upon since she believed Leah and Harry contaminated her house constantly, so it was up to Leah to fix it or there'd be severe punishment.

It was almost the end of the day before either child rested or even attempted to. Uncle Vernon was upset almost immediately after they were finished however, because Harry missed the small patch of grass on the side of the house when he was mowing. He blew a gasket and hit his nephew with the palm of his hand across his cheek. Harry frantically looked for a way to get out and Leah wanted to save him. She needed to. She always _needed_ to save him like it was an instict.

Harry was always smarter when it came to avoiding Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia's wrath, he constantly could talke his way out of beatings or managed to get to his mistake and fix it before they became too belligerent.

Leah however had the opposite luck because she looked almost identical to her mom, Lily Potter, when she was this age. Her Aunt had an almost in-human hate for the small girl for almost just this fact. Uncle Vernon didn't like her at all either because she was unnaturally clumsy and was always tripping either on her own accord or her cousin's. At least Harry could manage to keep plates from falling and looked like their father whom neither had really met.

Harry was now using all he could to get away.

"I'll fix it right now, sir. Right now." Their uncle had his pudgy hand caught tightly in Harry's oversized shirt and was threatening to strike again. His face was red, changing to an ungodly shade of purple and Harry was paling.

They hated her more, she had to save him. She could stop them; Harry would be happy and that's all she wanted for her big brother. She just wanted to see that smile that so rarely crossed his face and those green eyes light up. She moved quickly and pushed Harry away from Uncle Vernon.

Harry knew what Leah was doing and almost just as quick tried to get her to not intervene because it was his fault and he didn't want her to be punished because of him, but instead Vernon took Harry by the shirt and threw him in the cupboard and kept Leah outside while he locked the door viciously.

"Want to be a bloody nuisance girl, you can be treated like one!" He screamed in her face before taking off his belt and began striking the child in front of him.

"Leah!" Harry struggled with trying to open the cupboard door, fumbling with the small door handle that he knew wouldn't turn even if he was trying to get to his little sister but like always the lock that stopped him was invincible.

Each hit made Leah's body more numb. Her Uncle was unrelenting and with every strike he screamed profanity at the nine year old. Aunt Petunia joined in shortly; tears springing to Leah's eyes despite all her will to not be a baby.

"You're a freak! Just like your parents! Clumsy! Stupid! Good. For. Nothing."

With one final blow, after what seemed like hours, he stopped abruptly. She got a kick in the side by Aunt Petunia and then was roughly thrown into the cupboard with her brother.

* * *

Several days later a letter with Harry's name neatly printed on the front came and Uncle Vernon was livid. He tore the letter and the next several that kept coming through the mail slot in front of Harry to be sure he got the message that he wasn't worth the mail. He covered the mail slot sloppily to stop the letters from streaming in, but that didn't seem to stop the owls that were oddly delivering them.

After about the fourth day of continual mail raining in, Aunt Petunia lost it and took it out on Leah while Harry was working on the garden outside. Soon after Harry also got a few bruises from her when one letter showed up in the living room almost instantaneously after the last batch was thrown out.

Finally after the sixth day Harry was able to sneak a handful of letters into the cupboard so that when they were both locked in there while the Dursley's went out to dinner that weekend they could read them without the fear of being hurt.

"Harry James Potter, it really is for me. Look there's one for you too Leah." Harry handed her a letter with her own name, Leahynna Faye Potter, printed neatly on the front with the same address. She looked at Harry quizzically because she shouldn't have also gotten a letter. Not yet.

"It's our Hogwarts letters! Leah, they finally came!" Harry's excitement was filling Leah with joy even if her body was in immense pain.

They had known they were a wizard and a witch for about four years now. When they found out, three year old Leah and five year old Harry had been more than happy to know why they were so different from their relatives and more importantly why they were always called freaks. The box that had told them the secret was hidden with her in the corner of the cupboard and held things about their parents, such as their wands and Hogwarts letters, things Aunt Petunia had tried to throw away before Leah had spotted the vintage looking box on top of the trash.

Harry didn't know much more than that he was a wizard so were their parents, but Leah knew so much more, she knew things she shouldn't an was too scared to tell him because she knew he would really think she was a freak. However even she knew it was too early for her letter, you had to be eleven like Harry or her parents, it must have been a mistake.

"Leah, aren't you happy? We can leave here now." Harry's jade eyes bore into hers as he waited for a silent answer.

"What if they don't let us go?" She whispered to him and looked down at her letter sadly.

"Someone came for mom right? Since her mom and dad weren't magic, someone had to help her. Well, we don't have anyone magic either so someone will come for us too, right? It said the name of who was going to come for her on her letter so let's check our letters for a name." Harry held up his letter and read all he could.

Leah did the same and searched for name in the same area that was on her mom's letter and found none. She sighed and looked over to Harry in desperation before hearing the familiar roll of an engine. They quickly stashed the letters away and hid the box back where it belonged under some discarded broken toys in the far corner.

The car doors slammed outside and soon the front door was being unlocked. The Dursley's came in loudly and Dudley began talking.

"That's was a horrible dinner! I wanted a hamburger not a some bloody steak! You never do anything I want!" his shrieks made Harry want to shove something in his own ears.

"Duddykins! I'm so sorry! We'll go to your favorite place tomorrow and it'll be the hamburgers all day!" Aunt Petunia's shrill voice yelled up the stairs as Dudley stomped up to his room to sulk.

Seconds later Uncle Vernon was pounding on the cupboard for them to wake up, though they didn't fall asleep, and unlocked the door.

"Clean up the bloody hallway and then to your room boy!" He cuffed Harry in the back of the head while he went away to clean the coats from the walkway. Uncle left and now Aunt Petunia came into view.

"You are going to go upstairs and clean the bathroom, it's filthy! Go! Now!" Leah had only cleaned the bathroom two days ago but she practically ran up the stairs to begin in case she was corrected harshly for laziness.

She was only beginning when Harry came up the stairs and glanced in.

"Hey, I think I can help you, Uncle Vernon said to not disturb Dudley but he wasn't going to come up these stairs to lock me in yet, he was too tired. So if you don't mid I''ll help you clean until he does come." Harry smiled.

**Thank you. **I answered back silently.

We worked quietly for about an hour before Dudley came into the doorway.

"Freaks! You missed a spot! Right over there." He pointed to the corner Leah had just cleaned before taking off his muddy shoe and throwing it at it.

"Dudley, leave us alone." Harry said to him as calm as he could.

"Or what? You'll get me? I'm so scared! Maybe I should call my dad up here?" He smirked with his smug pudgy face.

**Harry. Leave it. Just ignore him.**

"Leah how can I ignore him? He's a jerk!"

Dudley's face changed to a grimace.

**Don****'****t upset him, you****'****ll get in trouble.**

Sure enough Dudley called for Uncle Vernon the next heartbeat and ran back downstairs.

Leah backed herself in the corner with Harry before they heard the thundering feet make there way up the stairs and into the doorframe of the bathroom.

"Were you two bothering my boy?!" Uncle Vernon had been drinking since he got home.

"No sir, we were just cleaning the bathroom and Dudley came in and we talked. That's all, sir." Harry answered politely to avoid conflict since he had already gotten them into this situation.

"You did too! He called my a jerk and the girl even pushed me!" Dudley yelled from the stairs where he'd probably been eavesdropping.

**Trouble. Run.**

Leah told him after a long silence drew out between them and their uncle. She knew he was mad and drunk and it was even worse when he was both.

Harry grabbed her hand instantly and made a beeline for the door. Vernon blocked them with his enormous stomach and hit Harry's face before he could dodge. Next he launched his leg out and hit Leah in the left side of her stomach before stomping again so she would fall to the floor.

Before Harry was able to stand up again, his uncle and brought the broom he had swiped from the cleaning kit and began to deliver blow after blow. She couldn't let him hurt Harry anymore, it cut into her soul to see him crying.

She ran into Uncle Vernon with the bucket as fast as she could. Now the attention was on her and the broom was hitting her body. He was merciless and Leah could feel sleep welcoming her. Soon though she could see Harry waking and latching onto Vernon's leg.

"You little shit!" He swung at Harry, kicking out to get him off. Leah needed to get help. She ran out of the room since currently Harry was losing and she couldn't see straight. She made it to the top of the stairs and went to run down but she was yanked from behind and an evil looking uncle stared right at her.

"I'll teach you! I will." The fist connected with her cheekbone and she went soaring down but instead of hitting the floor she kept going until she felt the hard jab of a step, then more steps came and soon she couldn't hear anything. Everything was in pain and yet she felt so empty. She didn't want to open her eyes, she was scared Uncle Vernon wasn't done or she was dead.

"Le-" Someone was calling for her.

"Leah!" It was Harry and he was coming closer. A hand clasped hers and shook her slightly. Harry was crying.

"Please stop!" he was yelling. Uncle Vernon was coming closer, she could tell he was getting really scared. She was too, terrified. Harry couldn't die. She just knew he couldn't.

**Safe.**

She whispered in Harry's head before they were both gone from the Dursley's stairs and whirling through the air in a sensation neither had ever felt before and suddenly they were dumped unceremoniously on the ground with a castle in the distance. Neither one of them were moving.


	2. Chapter 2

Severus Snape was trying to drown a headache in a special potion he'd made for times when he felt this way. He was tired of Hogwarts no matter how much he cared for the school. He was tired of students who didn't care about potions and who almost blew themselves into high heavens because of it. He was tired of that bumbling headmaster Dumbledore and all of his damned lemon drops. Most of all he was tired of everyone asking him to be their personal potions master.

He sat down in his chair within the dungeon living quarters he was assigned during the school term, near the Slytherin dorms. His head lay in his hands as he thought of yet another year with students and teachers that looked at him like he was some villain. So what if he wore dark clothes and had long greasy black hair, that didn't mean he was satan walking.

He finally had some quiet in his busy head when he heard a snap and felt a bit of a rumble beneath his feet. He got up from the seat and looked out his window to the black lake. Beyond that he saw a form or maybe two and they were outside the school's wards. Someone had just apparated onto the outskirts of Hogwarts grounds and he was sure going to find out who.

He began to make his way through the castle and made it outside in time to run into Minerva Mcgonagall.

"Severus, did you see the apparition?" She asked him worriedly.

"Yes, unfortunately. Who would dare _apparate _to the school is beyond me."

"Well it must be important to take that means of transportation, surely." Severus nodded before continuing toward the area of disruption. Minerva followed in close suit nearly tripping over Snape's black ropes.

As they rounded the Black Lake they both now realized that the forms were of children. Children could not apparate much less get to Hogwarts before they'd even attended the school, which Severus knew by how small they were. The boy barely looked old enough to attend school here; the girl definitely could not.

Minerva had quickened her pace when she saw they were both unconscious and Severus did the same. As they approached the children they saw a gruesome sight. The boy's hair was a black abyss color that matched Severus's robes, but his hair was matted with blood at the moment and had a similar color to the girl's hair which was already an auburn red that was similar to the Weasley Twins but a bit lighter. Bruises covered both children; the girl looked worse off with a few limbs at grotesque angles and blood coming from her back.

"Merlin, we need to get these two to Madam Pompfrey before we lose them." Minerva gasped and started to look to levitate the girl.

"It's too risky to levitate them, if you can carry the boy, I'll carry the girl, she's too fragile to have you jostle her on the way back. The boy should be light enough still however, for you to carry him without dropping the lad."

The glare she gave him was priceless but it was true. She may be strong but one trip or stumble and the girl could be damaged beyond repair,the boy was better off taking the wobbling steps of the woman.

Severus carefully put his arm under the the child's head and his other under her knees. He wasn't prepared for how light the girl really was, he'd carried toddlers heavier than her. Once she was situated and he was sure he couldn't hurt her even if _he _tripped he glanced over at Mcgonagall who had the boy in her arms and nodded for them to head towards the infirmary.

Halfway through the castle the boy started to wake and squirm in Mcgonagall's arms. They stopped briefly while they waited for him to calm down.

"It's ok, it's alright. Just go back to sleep." She soothed. He was fighting the sleep but eventually with more coos he was down for the count again.

When they reached the infirmary, Severus called loudly for the mediwitch.

"What in the name of- Severus what happened?" She glanced at the girl in his arms before looking around and seeing the boy as well.

"Lay them down, be gentle. I'll start the diagnostic tests now. Severus you do the girl, I'll start the boy. Hurry now."

Minerva carefully lay the boy on a cot and quickly Madam Pompfrey waved her wand over the child. Severus did the same and waited for the results.

The girl was so pale he didn't think she'd make it by the time the blasted results came. When they finally did, he couldn't help but gag. She had had numerous broken bones, including most of her ribs. The severity of the bruises went from barely a nuisance to causing internal bleeding. At the moment the girl had a broken arm and leg as well as internal bleeding around her liver and left kidney. Her back had an infection from what looked like welts made from a belt and the back of her legs weren't fairing much better.

Her body was starving. She was so malnourished that the girl could be unconscious just from the low blood sugar and hunger pains. The girl hadn't eaten in almost a week.

Severus glanced at Minerva and Poppy and saw only disgust as they read the boy's medical results. He assumed it was fairly similar to the other child's.

"By Merlin, what- who could have done this to these children? They're innocent, who would need to hurt them so much?" Minerva shook her head in amazement.

Just then Severus caught something on the boy's forehead. Poppy pushed past him to start administering treatment to both children, but he didn't notice because he was focused entirely on the odd shape of the scar now revealed to him. He knew that lightning scar.

"That's Harry Potter." he mumbled.

"It couldn't be. Are you sure? Severus?" She gave him a look that was only that of guilt.

"I told that bumbling old goat that they were the worst kind of muggles! Does he listen to me? No! These poor children!"

Snape was confused. He had been there, he had held Lily in his arms and rocked his only true love as he cried tears of grief. He had heard Harry in the toddler bed and realized then that there was a another baby as well, this one a girl.

When he had called to inform the ministry of the Potters' murders he had mostly forgotten the children and had trusted they would be handled accordingly. He always thought Sirius or Remus would have taken them but he'd forgotten Remus's condition probably prevented him from being a suited guardian and Sirius at the time was a suspect before they caught Peter Pettigrew. Still he believed they had been given to wealthy wizards who would keep them safe and shower them with love, it only occurred to him now he had no idea where they had been placed.

"Where did you take them?" Severus asked.

"The Dursley's, Lily's sister." Minerva shuddered.

"Dumbledore thought it'd be right to place Lily's children with that evil b- Tuney isn't fit to raise her own children let alone the chosen one and his sister!" Snape raved.

"I know I told that old coot but he kept going on about the blood wards that only Petunia can give them as they're the only family they have left. But look at them, they would have been safer with wizards or at least some caring muggles." She sighed.

"What's the girl's name?" Severus inquired. He had never actually heard her name, only Harry's over the years because he had been the one to stop He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"Leahynna. Such a pretty name isn't it? She's got her mother's hair too." Minerva smiled at Severus before turning back to help Poppy with the girl's treatment.

"That'll be as much as I can do at the moment I'm afraid. The boy is healing quickly but the girl is taking a bit longer. I'm not sure why but she's barely healing at the rate a witch should. She's also running a fever, so we need to be sure to keep an eye on that." Pompfrey explained and then went back to her office to gather more supplies for the night ahead.

"We need to tell Albus and the Order too." Minerva whispered. Severus nodded.

"You want to stay here in case Harry wakes?" She asked seeing an odd expression on his face.

"Someone should. Poppy's busy with the medical side of things, so one of us should stay."

She nodded and left the room, it was obvious he was the one who wanted to stay and at the moment she had some ranting to do.

It was almost an hour after Mcgonagall had left when Harry had started to wake. Severus was unsure what he was going to say to the boy. He was sure that both children were spoiled by their guardians and he was blind-sided by this new information. Poppy was busy trying to contain the girl's fever so he knew he'd be the first one Harry saw.

"Leah?" It came out a bit garbled but he knew he was trying to call his sister.

"It's alright Harry, she's going to be ok." He soothed, but this seemed to scare him more.

"Leah? Where is she? What have you done with her!" The boy's eyes were entirely open now and focused on Severus and his body bolted into a sitting position causing obvious pain.

"I haven't done anything to her, she is resting in the next bed over."

Before he knew it the boy was darting out of bed and hobbling toward his sister's side.

"Young man what are you doing out of bed?" Poppy caught him before he made the last few feet to Leahynna's bed.

"Please I need to see her! She's not answering me; is she ok? How bad is it? Where are we?" Harry was obviously scared and especially flinched when Poppy caught his arm to lead him back to his own cot.

"She's healing but she needs to rest. She's asleep at the moment." Severus said when he was plopped back into the bed.

"Where are we?"

"Hogwarts."

Harry's eyes lit up brightly when the name of the school was told and he even smiled.

"We made it! Someone came and got us, right? To go to school?" This had Snape confused. He was sure neither child knew about magic let alone the school, he was sure Petunia Dursley wouldn't have told them about this place.

"Not exactly." Was all he managed.

"But someone had to get us 'cause no one else we know knows magic." He said it so matter-of-factly Severus was wondering who _was_ going to get Harry when he started school.

"What was the last thing you remember?" he asked the boy.

Harry didn't answer but looked away and at Leah.

"It's alright, my name is Severus Snape and I'm a professor here, you can tell me." But before he could, Minerva came through the infirmary doors.

"The Order is here and I told them it wouldn't be a good idea to talk in here with the children in case they woke- oh, Harry you're awake. How are you dear?"

"Fine ma'am." He said hesitantly.

"Go ahead Severus, Harry and I will be fine." Poppy assured.

However when he went to stand, Harry grasped his robes.

"Will you come back, sir?" His emerald eyes shone like Lily's slowly breaking his heart.

"Of course, I'll only be but a few moments." Minerva nodded in agreement and Harry slowly let go of his robes.

He followed Minerva to the corridor next to the hospital wing where several wizards and witches stood.

"Where are they? Are they alright? I'll kill the people who harmed those children, how dare they hurt-"

"Molly, darling please calm down" Mr. Weasley grabbed his wife's shoulders comfortingly.

"No, I like where she was going. Whoever hurt my godchildren is going to pay dearly." Sirius Black said vindictively.

"All of you, calm down!" Snape hissed. The group was quiet at once.

"Harry is awake and healing at a quite rapid speed thanks to Madam Pompfrey. Leahynna however is battling a very high fever caused by infection and is taking a bit longer to heal." Severus told them.

"Who did it?" The voice came from Remus Lupin and it occurred to him Minerva hadn't said who had harmed the children just that the two had shown up obviously injured.

He got a sideways glance from Minerva confirming his suspicion and was obvious she wasn't going to tell them.

"Their relatives whom they live with, the Dursley's." There was a minor outrage then when the entire group realized what had happened to the two children behind the mahogany doors a few paces down.

"How did we not know? Wasn't someone watching them, someone from the wizarding world?"

Severus in fact did not know that answer but it was a great question.

"Dumbledore told me Arabella Fig lived only a few doors down and was looking after their well being." Mcgonagall answered.

"Obviously that was a lie." Alistair Moody seethed.

"I want to see them." Sirius suddenly stated.

"I'm not sure it's such a great idea at the moment." Severus answered.

The doors then opened and Poppy leered out.

"The girl is awake, I have no understanding as to how considering she's still got a serious outlook of injuries but she is. Harry is siting with her now, but i think you should come talk to them Severus."

"Alright," he turned back to Sirius, "I'll talk to them and if they say it's alright with them you may go in, but I warn you, strangers to kids who have been hurt so badly by people who are suppose to love them, tend to be extremely intimidating. So if they do say no, please don't shout and scare them into letting you in."

He walked back into the infirmary silently and strolled toward the two forms who were talking.

"Leah? Do you know what happened? I can't remember how we got here, do you?" Snape was waiting for the answer but he never heard it.

"That's all I remember too! I hope we can stay here, I like it."

To say Severus Snape was perplexed by the fact Harry heard an answer and he heard nothing was an understatement. In fact he continued to stare as Harry asked something, silence and the conversation continued. That was until the little girl glanced behind Harry and shrunk back into the bed.

"Oh, you came back! Don't worry Leah, this is Severus Snape and he's a teacher here. He was really nice to me, he won't hurt you." Leah didn't believe him much but she did recognize him from the pictures in the box with her mom.

"That's right, I'm not going to hurt you. Harry and I have already talked and I assure you I won't let anyone else hurt you either." She looked at him but quickly turned back away never making eye contact.

"Harry, did Leah answer you at all when you two were talking? I didn't hear anything." At this question Harry looked down and Leah physically paled.

"What's wrong? Harry?"

"Nothing, sir. She doesn't talk."

"She must have answered you somehow. At least you seemed to have heard her say something."

Leahynna's eyes screamed so many emotions his own head was spinning. Harry was looking at him, somewhat pleading. Harry inhaled sharply.

"I can hear her. Just me."

Now Severus really was confused.

"How?"

"In my head. She talks to me but I can't answer back in my own head so I still talk out loud. She can't hear me like I hear her."

Now Leah was practically off the bed and pulling Harry with her. Severus understood now, Leah was telepathic. Her magic was warped a special way that gave her a natural gift. That was the reason she took longer to heal, the magic can't compensate for the ability.

Not many magical folk have a natural ability such as telepathy, Severus hadn't heard of one being present for at least 200 years when a certain wizard had the ability to move objects without a wand, it didn't happen often.

"Can you talk to anyone else besides Harry?" He directed the question directly to the terrified girl.

It was obvious that wasn't what she was expecting. She was cowering with her hands over her eyes and making herself as small as possible, but when he asked her she suddenly looked up at him then over at Harry.

"She doesn't know, there's never been anyone else to talk too."

"Well I like talking to you, would you like to try?" She looked at Harry again.

"She wants to know why you don't think we're freaks."

That's when Severus broke completely.

"Why on earth would you think such a thing?" he said exasperatedly.

"Because that's what Aunt Petunia said."

"Well your aunt was completely wrong. You too aren't anything of the sort."

**But we have magic.**

The voice was so quiet and small he was unsure he'd actually heard correctly but it was definitely a little girl's voice.

"It doesn't matter that you have magic, that makes you special, not a freak."

"She did it? She talked to you? Amazing Leah!" Harry was grinning ear to ear before there was knock at the door.

"Oh yes, I need to discuss something with both of you. Your godfather is outside and would very much like to see you."

**Sirius Black?**

Again Snape was taken aback.

"You know his name? How did you know his name?" he was perplexed.

"It's in the box. Oh no Leah! The box! We have to go back now!" Severus didn't even ask because there was another knock. It was obviously more persistent than the first and now that dog was doing exactly what he told him not to do.

"I'm sorry Harry but you can not go back to that house. We can get the box another time, alright?"

Harry shrugged but cast his eyes down.

**We need it. Please, sir? I can go back.**

"Absolutely not. It is completely out of the question."

"But our letters are there, sir. How will we get into school without them?"

"You won't need your letter, we already know you are going and we have to supply list here." Honestly they were getting completely off subject and Leah's eyes were too watery for him.

"He can come back in a while after you've both rested, come on, into bed." Harry headed back to his cot looking relieved but as he was pulling the covers up on Leahynna he was stopped.

**I have to go back. Mom and Dad****'****s things are in that box and if Aunt Petunia finds them she****'****ll burn them! Please I have to get it, sir!**

Her hands were wound tight in his robes and her eyes were full of tears. She quickly grabbed her arms back however and her tears dried so fast he blinked and they were gone. Then she was back into a cowering ball against the headboard with Harry looking over concerned.

"Leah what's wrong?" She didn't seem to answer and Harry asked a few more times before calling to me.

"She's not answering, sir. She always answers! May I please get out of bed?" It didn't dawn on him that Harry and Leah may take everything as an order but if something was wrong he'd rather Harry not see.

"No Harry, you need to stay there, ok? I'll check on her." Sure enough when he reached to check her temperature it was frighteningly hot. He went to move her but as he touched her shoulder she slumped into his arms unconsciously.

"Poppy!" The medi-witch was there in an instant.

"She's way too warm Severus, we need to cool her down the muggle way. Get some cloths and wet them in cold water. Then we can put them on different temperature points on her body and hopefully she'll respond. I was hoping to get some food in her before she went south."

They continued to try to bring the fever down with a worried looking Harry watching every move they made.

"Severus? All we can do know is hope she cools down. Someone needs to sit and monitor her fever however. Minerva already volunteered. You should go lie down, you've been here since they first arrived, go ahead, I'll floo you if anything new happens."

He reluctantly walked away from the bed and passed Harry. He stopped though to ask a question.

"Where is this box?"


End file.
